Pushing the boundaries between reality and fiction with photographer and designer Nicolas Polli.

Ferox. The Forgotten Archives (1976–2010) by Nicolas Polli

“The International Exploration for the Mars Surroundings (IEMS) is a united program responsible for the civilian space program as well as aeronautics and aerospace research for the Mars surroundings.”Ferox. The Forgotten Archives (1976-2010) is a fictional project by Swiss photographer and graphic designer Nicolas Polli. With this archive of photographs, Nicolas tries to push the boundaries between reality and fiction, exploring the kind of information we require to trust an image.

According to Nicolas, “we trust NASA images even if we don’t know anything about the images that are given to us, and we will never be able to go directly to Mars to control the information.” Ferox wants to study this phenomenon, reconstructing a fake image archive from a fake space agency with the aim to explore whether the authenticity of the material is relevant or not.

In order to contextualise the project and examine how people interact with these fictional images, Nicolas has created a website – working as an open source archive where visitors are able to download the photographs for their own research and artistic projects – and a book showcasing a selection of content including images and essays, written by contributors not related to science.

Nicolas Polli is a Swiss photographer and graphic designer working in Lausanne, Switzerland. He is currently focusting on photo books design for clients such as Edition Patrick Frey, SPBH, GwinZegal, Skinnerboox, Swiss Air and Festival Vevey Images. Nicolas is also an assistant teacher in the MA Photography at ECAL.iems-ferox.comnicolaspolli.tumblr.com@nicolaspolli

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